Spain’s 108-106 defeat in Greece, their third straight loss on the road to the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Qatar, has left Chus Mateo’s side facing a problem that would have seemed almost unthinkable just a few months ago. The four-time European champions had won all five of their opening qualifying games, but their fortunes have changed dramatically. After blowing a lead against Georgia in the final game of the first phase, Spain then fell at home to Portugal before suffering another defeat at Athens’ OAKA. They are no longer group leaders: with a 5-3 record, Spain sit behind Ukraine (6-2), level with Georgia and just one win ahead of Portugal, Montenegro and Greece (4-4).
With four games remaining —two against Montenegro, an away trip to Portugal and a home game against Greece— the situation is, to say the least, uncertain. Only the top three teams in the group will qualify for the World Cup. To make matters worse, the November window will coincide with the NBA, NCAA and EuroLeague seasons. In the most likely scenario, Spain will only be able to call upon two of the players selected for this window: Alberto Díaz and Willy Hernangómez, both Unicaja players. Álvaro Cárdenas, Mario Saint-Supery, Sergio de Larrea, Baba Miller, Jaime Pradilla, Darío Brizuela, Joel Parra, Hugo González, Aday Mara, Juancho Hernangómez, Santi Yusta, Izan Almansa and Santi Aldama will all be unavailable for the trip to Montenegro and the home game against Greece, as will players such as Alberto Abalde and the injured Usman Garuba. In the final window, in February, however, the EuroLeague will take a break, meaning Cárdenas, Saint-Supery, Pradilla, Brizuela, Parra, Yusta and Hernangómez could be available, along with Abalde. Garuba, meanwhile, is not expected back that soon after suffering an Achilles tendon injury.
It is against this uncertain backdrop that Spain enters the final stretch of World Cup qualifying. They will likely need at least two wins to have a strong chance of qualifying, while three or four victories would make their place in Qatar virtually certain. To achieve that, however, Mateo may have to turn back to the veteran core he left out of this latest window, when his squad selection appeared clearly geared towards building for the future around the young players expected to lead Spain in the years to come. The back-to-back defeats, particularly the damaging home loss to Portugal, have nevertheless clouded the outlook considerably for the two-time world champions.
The defeat to their neighbours was the result that most disrupted Spain’s plans. The team entered this window with barely any preparation —they played no friendly games and had only four days of practice before facing Portugal—. But there is also considerable frustration over the officiating in Athens, where Spain lost to Greece in overtime. A victory would have gone a long way towards offsetting the damage caused by the previous defeat and would have put Mateo’s team in a much stronger position in the race for qualification.
Spain’s anger at the officiating was evident after the game. Darío Brizuela was particularly outspoken, taking aim at FIBA’s choice of officials. “The officiating was bad with malice aforethought,” the guard said, questioning the professionalism of Polish referees Wojciech Liszka and Michal Proc and Croatia’s Martin Vulic. Brizuela also claimed that, when he asked them about some of their decisions, “they didn’t even know what to answer”. He singled out two incidents in particular: the unsportsmanlike foul called on Aday Mara —the 5th on of the young center— after an elbow that did not make contact with Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s face, but rather his shoulder; and Tyler Dorsey’s foul on Joel Parra, which Spain felt was clearly unsportsmanlike but was not upgraded after the officials chose not to review it in the final seconds of overtime.
Spain were also furious that no foul was called in the closing stages of regulation, when Nick Calathes clearly hit Mario Saint-Supery as the Málaga-born guard attempted a three-pointer with 21 seconds remaining and Greece leading 84-83.
Brizuela was not the only Spanish player to voice his frustration. Young center Aday Mara did so as well, although the Oklahoma City Thunder big man was less explicit and instead resorted to irony when assessing the officiating. “The referees did a great job,” he said, before pointing out that Greek possessions repeatedly ended with free throws and questioning some of the ejections. Mara nevertheless acknowledged that Spain had made mistakes of their own and refused to use the officiating as an excuse. The frustration continued after the final buzzer, with Brizuela claiming that the Spanish players were not allowed to sign the scoresheet under protest because, according to the table officials, they were too late, while the referees quickly left the court.
Whatever the case, Spain now faces an uncertain situation, with three straight defeats, an extremely tight group and a severe shortage of available players for their upcoming games.
Few would have imagined such a scenario just three months ago. But the 2006 and 2019 world champions will have to fight tooth and nail if they are to avoid missing their first World Cup since the Philippines in 1978
